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Flomaton Grad To Release New Album Next Week
August 6, 2009
A Flomaton High School graduate’s new CD will be released next Tuesday.
John Boutwell, who now performs under the name Ryland Bael, will release his country/pop album “Gone Too Long”, featuring 10 new songs that he wrote.
Boutwell graduated from Flomaton High School in 1995 and went on to get degrees from Jefferson Davis Community College and the University of Alabama. He was born in Bay Minette, but grew up around the Boutwell and Lambeth communites on Upper Creek Road just outside Flomaton.
After graduating from the University of Alabama in 2003, he remained in Tuscaloosa and formed his own label — Boutwell Entertainment, LLC. and released “John Boutwell: Remember Me” in 2004. He toured the Southeast for a couple of years to promote the album.
For “Gone Too Long” Boutwell decided to go with the pen name Ryland Bael and write about his life experiences, the result of a three year odyssey of personal heartbreak, healing, and triumph for this south Alabama son.
Ryland’s musical talents have their roots in an old country church in rural Alabama, and his music can best be described as a unique blend of gospel and country intertwined with pop, soul, R & B, jazz, and classical influences.
“I started playing piano and singing almost from the time I could walk and talk. I cut my musical teeth on Southern Gospel music. As I was growing up, being a guy who had no musical education and played everything by ear, whenever I heard something I liked on the radio, I’d take different elements and incorporate it into my own piano style. I began as a gospel writer and gradually began to write more and more country and pop lyrics,” Ryland said. “If you listen close, though, you’ll hear those soulful, gospel licks in almost every song I write and record. I’ll never get away from gospel music. It’s in my blood. “
His days at Flomaton High School helped shape his career. He said he was “discovered” his junior year by the FHS Drama Department when they needed a pianist for a spring musical. Able to play Broadway scores by ear, he would help the cast by transposing the music for those that could not sing in the original key. During rehearsal breaks, he would forgo the Broadway tunes and play songs that were popular on the radio.
“It broke up the monotony of long hours of rehearsal and really was the beginning of my goal to become a recording artist,” Ryland said. ” Suffice it to say, my years in Flomaton laid the foundation for my career aspirations to be a nationally known recording artist. We haven’t quite made it there yet, but we feel good about where things are headed.”
With songs like “Lonesome Highway”, “This Ain’t Goodbye”, “You’ve Had Your Chance”, and “Smile For the Memory”, his new CD shows the soul of man with broken heart that is open to healing. The songs tell the story of human spirit, falling in love and finding one’s self.
“Music is who I am. It’s what I was born to do,” Ryland said.
The CD was scheduled to release last Tuesday, but was delayed by the manufacturing company. When released this Tuesday, the CD will be available from www.rylandbael.com, and online retailers like Itunes, Amazon.com. Rhapsody.com and Napster.com.
Releasing the CD on his own label was a business decision that Ryland hopes will pay off as more and more people discover independent artists online. And he’s hoping that country radio will be good to him with the airtime needed to introduce his music to the country music masses.
“It’s a great project. We just have to work a little harder to get it heard,” he said. “Obviously, from a business perspective, we want to sell as many copies and downloads as possible, but beyond that, I hope this album finds its way to a million listeners that can listen and appreciate this record for what it is. A journey. I think there is something on this album that everybody, no matter what age or demographic, can identify with at some point in their lives. I have this feeling there are a lot of us out there that set out out in life and at some point start to lose ourselves and come to the realization we’ve been ‘gone too long’.”
While the album reflects Ryland’s past, he hopes it leads to a bright future in the music business.
“I’ve made it this far, and I can’t wait to see what the next chapter in my career holds,” he said.
The album can be sampled on www.rylandbael.com, and there are two videos on YouTube.
Comments
2 Responses to “Flomaton Grad To Release New Album Next Week”
BOY CAN YOU SING GOSPEL BLACK SONGS MUSIC YOU ARE ANOINTED MY GOD SPIRIT MOVE ALL OVER ME THANK YOU JESUS I PLAY ALL OF YOUR SONGS EVERY DAY UP UNTIL I GO TOO BED MS. LOISTENE BEAL
That’s really awesome!! I remember when I was a little girl, my sister graduated from Flomaton and she was in all of the plays there. He played all of the music for the play and I remember thinking, “Wow he is really awesome!” I would just sit and watch him play the piano while they all practiced for the play. Congratulations!!